Nearly €220m has been stolen from a bank in Baghdad in one of the biggest heists since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Police say the thieves were three guards who worked at the private Dar Es Salaam bank in Baghdad's Karrada district.
An official at the bank said about $300m in US dollars had been stolen, as well as 220m Iraqi dinars (€128,000).
It was not immediately clear why the bank had so much cash on hand, but Karrada is a key commercial district in Baghdad.
The biggest 'theft' since the start of the war was the €6.4bn that went missing during the tenure of Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer.
The CPA's inspector general criticised the authority for 'not providing adequate stewardship' of the Development Fund.
It is known that US defence companies like Halliburton have received more than €1bn from that fund.
White House interim report
A new White House progress report on Iraq has said that the security situation there remains 'complex and extremely challenging'.
The interim report, which US President George W Bush was required to submit to Congress, showed minor progress had been made by the Iraqi government in its attempts at political reconciliation.
It also warned of the risk of further attacks by al-Qaeda on the US in the coming months.
However Mr Bush flatly denied media reports that the intelligence assessment had found the al-Qaeda terrorist network was back to its strength before the 11 September attacks.
Admitting that the 'troop surge' in Iraq had made limited progress, Mr Bush insisted he would wait for the full report to be released in September to consider any change of course.
He said a broader assessment by General David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker in September would be pivotal.
The report is being sent to Congress as several prominent Republicans have broken ranks with the Bush administration over Iraq policy.
The Republican revolt could accelerate Democratic-led efforts to start scaling back troop levels in Iraq.
22 dead in Iraq attacks
At least 17 people have been killed in a series of attacks across Iraq.
Seven died in an attack in the city of Kerbala, including four members of one family.
A group of armed men ambushed the family as they were driving in their car through Kerbala's northwestern Hai al-Thawra neighbourhood.
Also today, seven guests celebrating the wedding of an Iraqi policeman were killed by a suicide bomber in the northern town of Tal Afar.
The bomber tried to force his way into the party and detonated a suicide vest when some of the guests blocked his path.
In Baghdad, three people were killed when a barrage of mortars struck the southeastern residential al-Amin neighbourhood. Eight others were injured.
And a pre-dawn US air strike in the central Shia city of Diwaniyah killed five militants trying to plant a bomb on a road.
